The welding of large objects, such as ballistic hatch covers, presents special challenges. In the welding of objects, it is desirable to position the object so that a welder, i.e., the person performing the welding, is provided easy access to the portions of the object or objects to be welded. However, using known techniques, this positioning of the object is often hard to attain.
For example, a crane may be used to initially position a large, heavy object in a position for welding. However, it is often desirable that the object be moved during the welding process. This presents the need to again use the crane, for example, to reposition the object and/or use a number or workers to reposition the object. Such crane repositioning and/or labor can be highly time consuming and can adversely impact the continuity of the overall welding process of the object. This can effect the quality of the weld.
Further, the inability of a welder to reposition an object being welded, on an on-going basis during the welding, results in a substantial inconvenience. In particular, the constant movement required by the welder around an object and the potentially awkward positions required of the welder may often result in unnecessary overall fatigue, as well as muscular fatigue in particular.
The device provided by the invention addresses the above problems as well as others.